Anchor
by awordycontradiction
Summary: "Have you ever heard of an anchor?" She asked gently. "An, anchor? For like a boat?" "No, not for a boat, Stiles." Erica snapped.


**I officially have no control over my growing intrigue over these two. **

**And You Be The Anchor by Mayday Parade was totally playing on repeat. **

There he was, sitting, hunched over a book half a carrot stick hanging out of his mouth. The hallway was abandoned, just the two of them, light shined through the row of windows across from the stacks of lockers. Erica smiled and descended down the hallway, he didn't even hear her coming. She stood above the boy who was completely engrossed in some thick text, the heavy book propped on his legs, his back resting against a locker. He hadn't noticed her, and with a mischievous grin Erica slammed her fist into the locker above, causing a harsh sound to reverberated down to the unknowing boy. He jumped immediately and Erica slumped down to his eye level, chuckling lightly to herself.

"Erica, always a pleasure." He grumbled.

"Someone is in a great mood." She retorted, completely un-phased by his attitude.

Stiles sighed and looked at the girl before him, he forgot that it had only been five days since the full moon, since Lydia snapped completely, since they finally found out who was controlling Jackson, since Derek went missing. Scott and Stiles found the three new werewolves after the evenings events transpired, locked up, scared and above all confused. Scott hadn't come to school, neither had Issac or Boyd. Allison was keeping to herself, only stopping in to pick up her assignments before leaving again, and Lydia was hopped up on anti-depressants in her room seeing stars with a bad case of cotton mouth. Stiles was alone, it was an odd feeling. Sure he never had many friends, and he was usually home unattended when his father had worked late, but this was a whole different kind of alone. He smiled awkwardly at the beautiful girl before him, remembering that she did have it worse than him, Derek was missing, he had no clue why she was even here, she should be with the rest of her pack, looking for him. The look in Erica's eyes stopped him from asking, they were scared and tired. A look he wore as well.

"Do you want me to just drive you home? You can't actually want to be here."

"Skip school?" She asked, a smirk playing on her bright red lips.

Stiles shrugged, he didn't know why, but he wanted to protect her, and he didn't want to be here, she couldn't have wanted to either. Erica looked across the hall, at the huge windows, thoughtfully contemplating what he had asked. She didn't want to go home, she didn't want to be here, she just wanted it all to go away, just pause for a while. With a quick smile Erica nodded grabbing his arm and lifting him easily from the ground. Stiles muttered something about knowing how to walk, while shoved the huge book in his bag along with the rest of his lunch and quickly rushed down the hall with Erica, ignoring the cameras that were watching them. Stiles knew Gerard was behind that lens, monitoring their every move, but neither teen cared, and in the grand scheme of things, neither did

Argent.

"You live on Cross still?" Stiles asked as he backed out of the school parking lot.

"I don't want to go home." Erica stated boldly. Stiles blinked at her.

"Where to Ms. Daisy?" Stiles smirked, matching Erica's.

"The woods." She mumbled, looking straight ahead.

Erica had went to the woods while she was still human a handful of times. Living in northern California, it was practically her backyard. She would go there after school, or on a Sunday afternoon just to get away. She didn't have to be that girl who seizures in class, or the homely little thing that prayed to go unnoticed. She was just there. Now the woods had a whole new meaning to her, now to Erica, the woods were a place where the monsters hid, where she hid. That last full moon, her first full moon was the worst thing she had ever experienced, it scared her, controlled her, drove her out of her mind and she hated it. Hated feeling that familiar weakness and needed someone to help her, someone like Stiles. She looked over at him as he drove. He looked peaceful, but she knew him well enough that she could see with her advanced vision the bluish pigments under his eyes, the way his mouth moved, like he was talking to himself, calming himself? Erica realized Stiles didn't need to be a werewolf to understand what she was going through, he was going through it too.

"So, can I ask yet?" Stiles questioned. Erica looked at him.

"Why the hell are we in the woods, Erica? Are you going to kill me?"

"You aren't that lucky, Stiles." The blonde werwolf scoffed at his sarcasm.

Stiles smiled, an act that barley lit the honey of his eyes. Erica sighed roughly.

"Shouldn't you be out looking for Derek?" Stiles asked.

"No, I had a different job to do." She looked at her hands rubbing them together.

"What?" He asked, curious as always.

Erica sighed and turned to him. "I had to keep an eye on you."

He snorted. "I can take care of myself, Erica."

She shrugged. "Wasn't my idea."

"Thanks though." He mumbled. "I was getting sick of being alone."

Erica smiled at him and nudged his shoulder. "Me too."

The pair was silent for a while, staring out into trees, hearing the wind and the birds. Being with each other was better than being alone, alone sucked. Erica was racking her brain to think of where Derek could be, worried that Jackson was out there, ready to find them, to attack them all. Stiles was thinking about all the reading he really should be doing, learning about control because it wasn't just Jackson who was being controlled, he knew deep down that something was controlling Lydia as well. They both felt like it was their jobs to fix things, but sitting out in the woods, quietly together was like a break, just the time out Erica wanted. She thought about the full moon, how Issac controlled himself. She wanted to do the same, she didn't want to be rescued, she was sick of having something to prove.

"Have you ever heard of an anchor?" She asked gently.

"An, anchor? For like a boat?"

"No, not for a boat, Stiles." Erica snapped. "For your emotions.. my emotions."

"This is a werwolf thing, like Scott and Allison."

"What?"

Stiles sighed. "Scott thinks of Allison and he's in control."

Erica looked at him for a second before snapping her head back to the trees around her.

"Have you found yours? It could have really helped with the full moon."

"I know that." She growled. "Issac's is his dad, Derek has anger, Scott _would_ have Allison-"

"-I don't have anything." She whispered.

"Sure you do, Erica." Stiles mumbled, stepping cautiously close to her.

"No I don't. My parents are great, but nothing that can control my need to strangle something."

Stiles looked at her, her arms crossed, her head low, the blonde strands obscuring her face.

"I don't like to think of my anger, and I've never been in love..." Her eyes darted up to his.

"Maybe you don't need one." Stiles stated lamely. He knew she did. He knew it would save her.

Erica gave him a look, a real look. He was trying to help, trying to make her feel better. It wasn't working, but it was helping ease her nerves. He was so close to her, and she wished he wouldn't keep doing that. He had no idea what he did to her, the rush she got when he was actually giving her attention. He was so clueless too it, he was just being Stiles. Sighing, she stepped away from him, walking over to a fallen log on the leaf littered ground. She felt Stiles' feet crunching behind her.

"What would yours be?" She asked.

Stiles frowned while sitting next to her. "I don't know." He shrugged.

"What do you care about?"

"Scott, my dad."

_Lydia Martin,_ Erica thought numbly.

"Heck, even you're growing on me." He teased. It was meant to be comforting. But it wasn't.

"Ha." She mumbled weakly.

"I would probably think about my humanity. If I was a werwolf."

"Humanity?"

"Yeah, like how being normal feels, or well, used to feel." He rolled his eyes.

"I think trying to hold onto a sense of being human would keep me grounded all on its on."

Erica grinned, it was so contagious, Stiles had to.

"That's brilliant, Stiles! We need to try it!" She jumped up.

"Wait, what?"

Erica wasn't listening, she was standing in front of him, black jeans and a black coat painted onto her toned and flawless skin. Stiles couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked right now. She looked free, and happy and filled with hope, and it made him happy that he gave that little release to her. Her hands came before her, normal, human, feminine hands, and before Stiles' eyes the nails grew, the hands lengthening and filling out, no longer looking delicate and holdable. Erica looked at him, her eyes a brilliant gold. She was supposed to be scary, but she wasn't, after witnessing her nearly dying in his arms, he would never fear this girl again, maybe not even of a full moon if this worked.

Erica licked her lips and closed her eyes again. She was concentrating, Stiles realized, trying to control her inner animal, trying to calm herself down. He saw her the other night, that huge metal crown on her head, the raw sincere fear in her eyes. He hated that look, and remembered countless times when he felt exactly like Erica did. He gulped, letting a breeze pass through his loose clothing and watched her.

Erica was breathing heavily, her fangs out, her mouth set in a snarl, it wasn't working. She tried to remember being normal, not having to worry about killing someone on a full moon, or not having her claws shred through clothing. She wasn't in danger from anyone but herself and her illness before this, and she didn't have super human strength that did her more damage than good. Erica tried to take a calm breath but the adrenaline sung through her veins coursing this animalistic hunger to stay in place.

She didn't know what to do, anger, pain, fear, those worked in a heartbeat, this wasn't working.

"Erica!" Stiles called, his voice was mixed not with fear, but with worry.

She immediately started to feel a little better. Her heart pounded for an entirely different reason. Not for the need to be a wolf, but the sound of someone caring, and she could smell it, the worry and compassion radiating off of him, it made her feel safe. Taking a deep breath she felt her fangs retract, her eyes adjusted themselves and she smiled swiping her thumb across her filed nails.

"It-It's okay, Stiles." Erica smiled, opening her eyes. "It worked."

Stiles grinned and let out a sound that was a mix between a muffled laugh and a cough. She walked over to him, smiling like an idiot. He didn't think then, just acted, he grabbed her by the waist and hugged her, even spinning her around a little. Erica laughed and latched onto his shoulders, her head buried in his neck. It worked, and she felt immensely better. He let her go, looking into her eyes.

"You scared the hell out of me." His breathing was rugged, staggering every so often.

"I'm sorry, I-" But Erica's smile quickly took over again. She couldn't think clear.

"So it worked, the humanity, it's going to be your anchor, or whatever?" He licked his lips.

Erica sobered, nodding rather forcefully and stepped back.

It wasn't her humanity, because as far as she was concerned her humanity _belonged_ to Stiles.

He just didn't need to know that, not just yet.


End file.
